Selfies aren’t just for teenagers and narcissists anymore. Since 2012, a businessman from Philadelphia used selfies for a practical purpose— proving his residency to the IRS.
Andrew Jarvis started an architecture firm in 2012. The business was in New York, but Jarvis lived in Philadelphia, according to a story in TIME Magazine.
His time was split between the two cities, with 51 percent of his time at home in Philadelphia. Though New York was not his primary residence, he decided to rent an apartment there for when he needed to stay in the city for business.
TIME reported that Jarvis became worried the Department of Revenue in New York may approach him for residency taxes even though he lives in Philadelphia.
Proving where his time was spent could be tricky, so Jarvis kept track of receipts and travel records. To be extra safe, he also started taking photos of himself in front of his house with the Philadelphia Inquirer from that day.
His selfies were time stamped and he sometimes varied the location to places like the gas station so the photos would match up with his receipts.
After his 26 year old daughter, Anne, found out about the photos, she started uploading them to the social media site Instagram under the name “InternalRevenueSelfies.”
Anne explained to TIME that the charm of the photos were that they weren’t meant to be seen by anyone other than Jarvis and the hypothetical IRS auditor that may someday question him.
“I came across these photos and I literally had tears running down my cheeks, and I was on the floor laughing,” she told the magazine. “What’s so funny is how deadpan he is. He has such an earnest nature. I know where all of this is coming from is he’s just through and through an honest stand-up guy and this is a manifestation of that.”
The Instagram account currently has 1,906 followers.
Jarvis has yet to be contacted by the IRS, but he did tell TIME that he would have smiled more if he knew other people would see his pictures.
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